As expected, the international body that oversees internet domain names has voted to change the way top-level domains work. Right now there are only about 200 top level domains, with some of the most widespread being .com, .net, .org, and .edu. But under the rules adopted by ICANN today, companies or individuals will be able to register top line domains using pretty much any string of characters.For example, why settle for www.downloadquad.com when you could have www.download.squad? The advantage to the new system is that it will be much easier to snag the domain you really want. The down side is that most web surfers tend to think in .com. It's already hard enough to remember whether you need to type in .com, .net, or .org. It could be much harder to find the page you're looking for if there are literally millions of options.
Of course, it's not like just anybody is going to go out and register a new top-level domain. The application fee will be upwards of $100,000. And even if we do wind up with 2000 or even 2,000,000 top-level domains instead of 200, odds are it'll still be easy enough to find the sites you're looking for thanks to these nifty things called search engines.
ICANN has also approved the use of Arabic and Cyrillic scripts for top-level domains.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-27-2008 @ 6:57AM
BlackCoffeeNoSugar said...
Chances are most people will simply stick with the existing .com, .net, etc. How many new top-level domains have you typed in your browser?
Reply
6-27-2008 @ 6:59AM
Jash Sayani said...
Cool!
Where do I get one...?
I want a .tech suffix..
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6-27-2008 @ 11:35AM
James said...
I cannot begin to spell out what a terrible idea this is -- requiring Unicode support to even view a domain name? DOOM!!!!
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6-27-2008 @ 2:48PM
RP said...
So basically all the large corporations can buy TLDs that match their company name... how annoying.
www.walmart (or just "walmart"), www.microsoft, www.foxnews, www.aol, www.ebay, www.espn, mail.yahoo, search.google...
This is progress... how?
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6-28-2008 @ 11:01AM
velocitySTRIKE said...
Disaster!
I really really hope they were just pulling an April Fools (in June, yes...but hey) because this can only spell virtual capitalism. Bah.
Reply
6-28-2008 @ 1:14PM
Ken Linscott said...
At this point it is difficult to see how this will precisely change the internet.
Currently, ICANN is projecting that the application process for new gtlds will not begin until sometime in Q2 of 2009 and alot will depend on the implementation rules/guidelines and pricing.
From a marketing perspective I think we have to ask whether new gTLDs will change internet users search habits?
How successful have recently launched TLDs been? Sure there where alot of registrations for .eu and .asia but did these extensions actually benefit the internet? Do users when directly navigating actually type in the .eu or .asia?
Consider .travel and .mobi. When was the last time you saw these marketed or advertised?
The success of any new TLD depends on changing the navigation habits of internet users. If I was a brand owner considering registering my brand as an extension I would question whether consumers are likely to change the way they find my site. As a potential registry I would question the long term successfulness of any new TLD and whether there is a true benefit to the internet.
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